


oh god chris literally just broke up with knox and charlie reappeared wearing his sunglasses like a prophetic crow on the wings of the death of a relationship

by yellowbeesknees



Category: Dead Poets Society (1989)
Genre: Dead Neil Perry (Dead Poets Society), First Kiss, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, charlie dalton is back at hellton, charlie really is a chaotic bi, google how to tag things, hahahahahha???? i have loads of work due time to rewatch dps and write fanfic, hellton, is their ship name chox, please read for my sanity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:34:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24314359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yellowbeesknees/pseuds/yellowbeesknees
Summary: Chris just rang Knox and asked him to meet her outside the school gates, and Knox knows already what she's about to say. It just isn't working for her, and Knox has decided he has to be ok with that. Just as Chris is about to elaborate, a car pulls up and somebody wearing sunglasses jumps out of the passenger seat.He's back with over double the instruments, all of the inflated ego, and his beret. Charlie always has loved being in the centre of attention, especially when it's Knox's attention.
Relationships: Charlie Dalton/Knox Overstreet
Comments: 6
Kudos: 83





	oh god chris literally just broke up with knox and charlie reappeared wearing his sunglasses like a prophetic crow on the wings of the death of a relationship

**Author's Note:**

> that was a long title

Knox really and honestly hadn’t expected to see Charlie Dalton walk through the gates of Hellton anytime soon, and at the worst point possible.

He had just had a call from Chris to meet her outside the school on the road and the boys had been understandably annoying about it, chasing him with innuendos and long, drawn out ‘ooh’s. It would have been vaguely funny if he hadn’t had a bad feeling about the tone of her voice, she had sounded unattached, faraway and uncaring, which Knox knew meant Chris was sad about something. He could only hope it wasn’t something serious, like a family death.

When he saw her standing just outside the gates, looking drawn and tired the bottom of his stomach fell out and rather uselessly clattered to the ground. He didn’t need her to tell him, he already knew. It was still a bit of a shock when the words fell out of her mouth. “Knox, I need to break up with you, I’m sorry, it’s just – it’s just not working for me. Alright?” Dusk was starting to fall over them.

“Alright,” he said dully, staring at the love of his life as she bit her lip awkwardly.

“Listen, Knox, I’m really sorry, I know stuff has been difficult for you recently but I can’t sacrifice my own happiness for yours. I really want to stay friends with you Knox, you’re a great guy and you’re absolutely hilarious but – ”

He nodded down at the ground. “Yeah, I’d like to stay friends Chris just – just you know, not for a little while yet, let me get over you first.”

“Oh, of course, I don’t want to push things,” she said hurriedly.

Then a car pulled up and someone wearing sunglasses jumped out of the passenger seat. “No, listen mom, I don’t need you to drive up to school with me, I can deal with Nolan. All he wants to do is ask me not to do it again.” He went round to the boot of the car and grabbed his bags, still talking to his mother. “He never said anything about talking to you mom, seriously it’s going to be fine.” Charlie had returned, like a prophetic crow on the wings of bad news, signalling the break up between Knox and Chris. He hadn’t even noticed the two of them yet, standing in the shadows beside the gate, but Knox couldn’t peel his eyes away, it was like seeing a ghost, he half expected Keating and Neil to jump out of the back seat and tell him about the awful prank they had played. “Yeah, bye mom, see you in a few months.” He leaned back through the passenger seat and Knox could only assume his mother kissed him. Then Charlie slammed the door shut and the car backed away down the drive. He turned to see two pale faces staring at him out of the grey evening light. He pushed his sunglasses back on his head. “Knox!”

“Charlie! What the hell are you doing back here?”

He smirked and tapped the side of his nose conspiratorially. “I hope I’m not intruding on an intimate moment?”

Knox floundered for a moment. “No, we – ah – we don’t go out any more. Bye Chris, I’ll see you some other time.”

“Oh... bye?” She frowned quizzically and then followed the car down the drive back towards town. “I’ll see you around Knox.” She blinked back at Charlie over her shoulder, as if still wondering what on earth he was doing there, Knox was of the same sentiment.

They started to walk back towards the school, Knox carrying some of Charlie’s bags without even thinking twice, without even arguing when Charlie handed him them. He had that kind of effect on people, Knox supposed, made them want to listen to his every word and follow them to the letter. It was mostly the shock though, having him streak back into their lives like a comet, a meteor shower crashing back down to earth. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you back at Hellton Charlie, what the hell are you doing here?”

“I’m here to learn,” he said piously, “no, seriously Knox, they’ve let me back in.”

“Why?”

“They missed me and my money.” He winked at Knox and then returned his eyes to the school. “Hello again Mr Nolan.”

“Mr Dalton,” said Nolan from where he had appeared on the stairs up to the school, “where’s your mother?”

“She’s gone back home sir,” said Charlie, with a polite smile, “did you need to speak to me?”

Nolan clenched his jaw slightly, he seemed almost upset that he had let Charlie back in, as if forgetting just how annoying and rebellious he could be. “It’s alright Mr Dalton, nothing has changed since you left.”

“Tradition sir, doesn’t leave much room for change.”

He decided to ignore that and turned to Knox. “Mr Overstreet, what are you doing out of school at this hour?”

“I told him I was coming sir, he was helping me with my bags,” Charlie lied smoothly, “thank you for this great opportunity to be back at Welton sir.”

The flattery seemed to stop all further questions and they were ushered through the doors and back into Welton. Charlie dropped his sunglasses back down over his eyes, and regarded the room carefully, and then nodded, seemingly satisfied and marched to the staircase, swinging his saxophone case and whistling tunelessly. Nolan watched them from the foot of the stairs, glaring, Knox smirked and hurried to keep up with Charlie.

“So,” he said, looking at Knox out of the corner of his eye, “since when have you and Chris not been stepping out?”

Knox made a show of checking his watch, though it was difficult holding all of Charlie’s bags. “All of about ten minutes.”

He blinked and twisted to look at him properly. “And you’re not crying about it?”

“Am I meant to?”

“Yes?”

“I don’t think it’s really hit me yet,” he mumbled, dragging his feet as they approached he spiral staircase up to the dorms. “Know what room you’re in?”

“Same dorm as before,” he groaned, swinging open the door, “not sure if I’m going to be able to stand Cameron.”

Knox grinned at him. “Sorry to be the bearer of good news but Cameron moved into Neil and Todd’s old room, Todd had a sort of breakdown about it and they had to move him.”

The noise of the night-time bustle reached them as Charlie beamed at him, lifting his sunglasses slightly. “I’ve got Todd as a room-mate?”

He nodded with a smile and Charlie dropped his sunglasses back down with a triumphant hiss. Knox was starting to feel like he was part of a parade, a very obnoxious but irritatingly enjoyable parade which had everyone staring. Charlie was back, and the reason he had not handed over his saxophone case to Knox became extremely obvious when he unzipped it and started playing loudly and extremely well. He recognised it as the same tune Charlie had played in the cave and a slow smile spread over his features as members of the Dead Poets Society poked their heads out of their dorms and out of the bathrooms, like children to the Pied Piper. Everyone, Dead Poet or not, was staring at Charlie like he was a ghost. He finished the final note and lifted the saxophone away from his mouth.

“Charlie?” said Hopkins, his expression incredulous.

He smirked broadly. “The one and only.”

“Dalton, what – ” Cameron started to say, looking equal parts irritated and nervous.

“Cameron, how nice to see you, I was asked by the school board to apologise to you.” The mock sincerity dripped from every word. “And the name is Nuwanda.”

Knox couldn’t help but let out a light laugh and follow Charlie with his bags, still part of his entourage. Todd was standing in the doorway looking dishevelled and shocked. “What – Charlie?”

“Hello Todd, I’m back.”

He grinned. “I can tell. Did you have to play the saxophone?”

“Absolutely.” Surprising both Knox and Todd, Charlie leaned in to hug him, but they all knew why. “How’ve you been Todd?”

“A little better,” he mumbled, he moved a little in the doorway, “you staying in this room?”

“Yeah,” Charlie said, squeezing passed him and gesturing for Knox to put his bags down, “you don’t get to have a nice private room for jerking off in any more Toddy-boy.”

“I don’t… I never – ”

“It’s perfectly healthy for boys our age,” he teased, collapsing on his bed and kicking his feet up dramatically. “Thanks bellboy, close the door on your way out.”

“Haha Charlie, very funny.” He pulled back one of the desk chairs and slumped down, rubbing his hand where the straps of Charlie’s bags had reddened the skin, he glanced towards the door and grinned. “Anyway, it looks like you’ve got some loyal subjects waiting to see you.”

Meeks and Pitts were standing in the door smirking. “Loved the performance Nuwanda,” said Meeks, following Pitts into the room, “welcome back to Hellton.”

“My pleasure. Close the door Meeks.”

“Yessir!”

Charlie swung his legs off his bed and started to unpack, requesting stories from the month or two he’d been away, it felt like a lifetime to Knox. The room, mostly bland except for some poetry stuck to the wall above Todd’s desk, began to fill with Charlie and his many possessions. A small tub of red paint and the lipstick he had stolen from Gloria and Tina; his drums and saxophone sprawled on the window sill; his jackets flung unceremoniously on the back of chairs, his beret tossed onto the pillows of his bed; a new copy of ‘Five Centuries of Verse’ held lovingly in both hands but Knox could see that pages had been dog-eared and folded over, scraps of paper jammed between the pages, he recognised one as the edge of poster of the naked lady which he had scribbled poetry on for the first Dead Poets meeting; there were his textbooks left to tumble on his desk, along with a jumble of expensive looking pens and thick, good paper; other books, one that Knox particularly noticed was a well-read copy of ‘A Midsummer Nights Dream’, were placed reverently on the shelf above the desk along with ‘Five Centuries’; a few new instruments, pulled seemingly from nowhere, joined the drums and saxophone: a flute, a tambourine, a harmonica and a shining metal whistle; a bottle of his stupid cologne was placed on the bedside table next to a half read copy of Walt Whitman poetry which hid a packet of cigarettes underneath it. He listened intently to their tales, asking again and again to rehear the ‘Oh Captain, My Captain’ story, much to Todd’s embarrassment, and Knox burned with pride to tell Charlie he had been the second to stand up. Then Charlie sat back down on his bed and urged Knox to tell them what had happened outside the gates of Hellton that evening.

“Me and Chris broke up.”

“What?” gasped Meeks, leaning forwards eagerly.

“Just now?” Pitts questioned, also leaning forwards.

“He means: Chris broke up with him,” Charlie said in a stage whisper and Todd gave a whisper of a chuckle.

Knox shot him a look. “She still wants to be friends with me, so I’ll probably cry myself to sleep about it tonight and then love her from afar for the rest of my life.”

“It’s not quite that dramatic Knox, I’m sure you’ll get over her.” Charlie winked at him and leaned back on his pillows with a long sigh. “It’s nice to be back at Welton.” Then: “I miss Neil.”

“We all do,” Todd murmured, picking at his nails anxiously, “but I realised pretty recently that Neil would’ve wanted us to carry on with life, to do what he couldn’t, to seize our lives, seize every day.”

They stayed in silence for a moment after that, letting Neil settle onto their skin, letting Todd’s words wash through their minds. The tranquillity was shattered by a sharp knock on their door. “Sleep now boys!”

Charlie sauntered out with them, holding his towel and pyjamas and toothbrush, daring someone to stop him going into the bathrooms. Knox watched him leave, standing leaning against his door frame, ignoring Hopkins’s request for him to “go the fuck to sleep”. He seemed to feel eyes on him, because Charlie turned just in the door of the showers, whipped his towel over his shoulders and winked at him. It was almost an invitation, but Knox settled for a smirk and shutting the door carefully behind him, blocking Charlie out of his mind.

He spent most of the night thinking about Chris and how he probably should had seen this coming. He had chased her relentlessly, kissed her without permission, and embarrassed her at school, it was a wonder she had ever gone out with him in the first place, and he was happy to have had the chance to know her that way, and thankful to be in the position to know her in a different way. Once he was done thinking, he was content enough to file all that away, he and Chris could be friends, perhaps he had misread his own signals, maybe he wasn’t desperately in love, just infatuated.

Having Charlie back at school was amusing to say the least. Somehow, his expulsion had only taught him to be more reckless, more out of line, more rebellious. It was difficult not to get caught up in the tide of this rebellion, swept along by his theatrics and stunts. It had been over a fortnight, and time was already moving at a much faster pace than it had at Hellton since Neil and Keating left them.

He was sprawled on the recliner in the common room, beret jammed hastily onto his head, sunglasses on, smirk equipped and drum between his legs. He was banging on it periodically as he chanted Latin verbs at Meeks’s irritated request. The study club was raucous as usual, as Meeks was trying to help an unhelpful Charlie with his Latin, he held an antenna up in one hand, balancing the Latin dictionary on his thigh, Pitts was messing with it, spinning the dials randomly and then craning forwards as if he heard something from the silent radio and asking Meeks to adjust the antenna position. Todd had abandoned the English essay he was meant to be doing, and was instead writing half poems before screwing them up and handing them to Knox, who had discovered they made incredible missiles and was launching them at Charlie who just kept catching them in his mouth and spitting them in the bin (or, occasionally, at Knox). 

A little later they retired to Todd and Charlie’s room, who grabbed the lipstick from the desk absent-mindedly and drew sharp symbols which drew Knox’s eyes in to his cheekbones. He could tell Charlie had noticed his staring because he kept smirking at the ceiling and casting glances at him out of the corner of his eye. 

“Are we ever going to have another Dead Poets meeting?” asked Pitts, out of the blue, cutting through the rest of the conversation, he was still cradling the radio on his lap.

Charlie’s eyes flicked to Todd, who nodded imperceptibly. “Me and Todd have been talking about it, we think it’s a good idea. Nolan knows about the cave, that’s the only problem.”

“We could go down there and take a poke around, see if Nolan’s blocked it off or anything,” said Pitts, “we could go now!”

“Shouldn’t all go at first,” said Meeks around his cookie, “if the cave is being watched, all five of us trampling down there will definitely be noticed.”

“Me and Nox will go down tonight,” Charlie decided, thrumming his fingers on his drum, “you three make sure to cover us as much as possible.” 

That was how Knox found himself running through the trees again towards the cave, Charlie hot on his heels. They were both in their pyjamas underneath the heavy Walton coats, hoods up to hide the flash of red cloth in the lining. The mad dash across the lawn had been the most dangerous, skirting round the edge and keeping to the shadows as much as possible, all the while thinking that Nolan might have seen them through a window, that or Cameron. A little way into the forest, Knox grabbed Charlie’s sleeve and forced him to stop, panting hard. 

“Come on wheezer,” Charlie huffed, “caught your breath yet? We’ve still got a way to go.”

“Did you have to sprint across the lawn that fast?”

“Prefer to get caught by Nolan?”

He panted, swallowing hard as he tried to catch his breath. “Maybe he’d kick you out again, seems like a win-win to me.”

Charlie ignored that, straightening up and peering through the trees behind them. “Maybe you’re right, maybe we should wait a moment. If they’re following us we can double back around them and sneak back into school.”

“They aren’t that desperate to catch us, are they?”

He shrugged. “Better safe than sorry.” He crunched away through the undergrowth, then hunkered down behind a small bank in the thicket, Knox followed him with a small groan. “If the others cover for us well enough, they won’t even know we’ve left the dorms.”

“Why did you have to bring me on for you stupid, hair-brained scheme?”

“You were staring at me so intently Knoxious, I thought maybe you wanted some alone time,” he whispered mockingly.

He hated that he blushed at that, and was glad the dark hid his face. Still Charlie laughed, as if he could feel the heat of his blush radiating through the air, a breathy little chuckle, before turning away to peer through the mist back towards Welton.

Almost as an afterthought, he realised he should probably reply before the silence cemented between them. “I wasn’t staring.”

“You were, and you knew I knew.”

“I was only staring because you’d drawn stupid patterns on yourself.”

Charlie just laughed. “I’m sure.” Then he got to his feet. “I don’t think we’re being followed, let’s get to the cave, but quietly.”

They kept low as they jogged towards the mound, Charlie leading them between thick copses and behind banks and furrows in the earth, every so often stopping and listening. It was starting to make Knox even more paranoid and he jumped every time he heard so much as the flutter of bird wings. 

When they reached it, Knox was breathing heavily again, and Charlie forced him to squat down behind a thick bush. “What?” he choked out between gasps, the moonlight flooded the grove a little better than it had back in the dark trees, and he could see Charlie’s calculating look.

“Nothing,” said Charlie, “just taking a precaution. Has Nolan seriously just left this?”

“He probably didn’t think it was important to shut off if everyone was compliant.” Knox shrugged, placing his chin on Charlie’s shoulder from behind. “You ready to go in?”

Charlie twisted a little so they were millimetres distance from each other, their breath mingled a little in the cool night air, and Charlie’s lips parted a little, his deep brown eyes all absorbing. Knox felt his breath hitch a little and got to his feet shakily, Charlie’s gaze dropped to the ground and he too stood. “Yeah, let’s go in.”

He followed Knox as they picked their way through the tight opening and out into the chimney-like room the cave offered. It hurt for Knox to see that ‘God of the Cave’ Neil had bought, pushed over into the mud, but it was nothing to Charlie kneeling down beside it and lifting it up, Knox could see his tears glistening in the streaming moonlight. Charlie just sat there, holding it, staring down at the smiling drummer’s face. He knelt down beside him and pried it from Charlie’s cold fingers, placing the statue on the rock where it was supposed to be. 

“Your hands are cold,” he murmured, still holding one of Charlie’s hands in his palm.

Charlie looked down at their hands and then back up at Knox, then lifted his hand away to wipe his eyes. Knox stared down at his empty palm, wondering if he had touched many people’s hands since Chris. Then Charlie’s fell back into his and gripped it tightly, Knox could do nothing except watch the knuckles move beneath Charlie’s skin. “They are cold,” he replied.

He let a nervous smirk play across his lips and hazarded a glance up at Charlie, who was also smirking. “Is your other hand cold too?”

“Maybe. Why don’t you find out?” Charlie breathed, pulling Knox up with him as he stood and sticking his hand boldly into his pocket.

Knox watched him, the bold curve of his mouth as he grinned, the daring sparkle in his eye, felt the calloused rower’s hand still gripping his own like a brick of ice. He moved closer so they were facing, so they were close, and slipped his hand into Charlie’s pocket, sliding his fingers over the back of Charlie’s hand and then unceremoniously wrenching it out. “It’s also cold,” he said, as if either of them were interested by that fact. He rolled the hand over in his own, regarding the lines of his palm, before lacing their fingers together. “Got any other fun little ploys to get me in your pants Dalton?”

“This one’s a bit of a classic,” he whispered, shifting closer, “need I say Carpe Diem?” He leaned in and kissed Knox. For a moment he was a little lost and then he settled into the movement, bending down towards Charlie, letting those cold hands leave his and trace frozen patterns on his cheeks, on his back. He lifted his own and grabbed Charlie by the back of the head and the small of his back, pulling him in ever closer. He wanted to consume this moment, he had seized it and now he would memorise it for all eternity, playing it over and over again, this, truly was what it meant to be a god.

They broke apart and he grinned down at Charlie, arms still wrapped around his waist. “I never realised you were quite this short.”

He snorted. “Shut up if you ever want me to do that ever again.”

**Author's Note:**

> just an fyi, i'm in love with charlie dalton


End file.
